


Outliving The Ruins

by jacksgreysays (jacksgreyson), jacksgreyson



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender, Descendants (2015), The Sword in the Stone (1963)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-17
Updated: 2016-02-22
Packaged: 2018-11-22 06:55:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 3,464
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11374920
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jacksgreyson/pseuds/jacksgreysays, https://archiveofourown.org/users/jacksgreyson/pseuds/jacksgreyson
Summary: According to Auradon, bending is dangerous. That's why the only bender in the kingdom is the Fairy Godmother.In the kingdom.On the Isle, though, bending is just something the kids do when they're bored.(A Descendants x Avatar the Last Airbender fusion. originally posted on tumblr)





	1. Part One

His father grew up in a desert. Where other benders lacked the focus to control so many grains of sand, his father had been able to bend entire dunes to his whim–as powerful as a god. Combined with his intelligence and shrewdness, it was no surprise when he became royal vizier. Second only to the sultan in Agrabah.

And yet, that was not enough for his father.

Sand is shifting, consuming, grasping. Greedy. Selfish. Sand is a poor foundation to build on, turns wind into something abrasive and destructive. There is no substance to sand.

Jay was born and raised on an island of rock and metal. All his life he has seen the people of the Isle build a home out of scraps, carve out an existence in an unwelcoming land. They are not ashamed and they do not falter.

Jay is a very different kind of earth bender than his father.

—

The water of the Isle is poisonous. The shoreline is murky with toxic waste, the clouds weep acid rain, and the river cutting across the island is more like a swamp. There is no pure water on the Isle.

And that’s the way Evie likes it.

Only a weak bender would need pure water. Night or day, tainted water or not, Evie is no weakling. The sea creatures near the Isle are hardier than their Auradon counterparts, acid rain is capable of wearing down stone, and the swamps are teeming with life. Water is life; the strong adapt. This is what she sees, this is what she learns.

She may never become a healer, but that is only one path a water bender may take. She will make her own path.

And anyway, as the daughter of a collector of hearts, she knows what the most potent liquid in the world really is.

—

Carlos is not a bender. His mother isn’t one, so he isn’t either. He doesn’t smile at the wind in his hair, doesn’t think about how running could so easily turn into flying. It’s only logical to think that wide open spaces are better than a cramped closet full of fur and steel; less so to think heights are safer than having his feet on the ground.

But he isn’t a bender. Can’t be.

There is only one air bender in the world and she’s in Auradon.

—

Mal is a dragon’s daughter, fire bending is in her genes. One of her earliest memories as a child is setting a minion’s clothes on fire, and her mother’s proud cackling in delight. It is much more difficult to earn that kind of praise now that she’s older, even if her abilities have improved greatly.

Maybe that’s the problem, because it’s not just her fire bending abilities that have improved. When she mimics Jay, she can also lift boulders; when she copies Evie, the raindrops freeze for her as well.

There is only one person who can bend multiple elements, after all; the Avatar has never been a force for evil.


	2. Part Two

When she was younger and far more reckless with her magic, the Fairy Godmother was once called the Blue Fairy.

Like most other elements, Air has a specialization, too–but where Earth has Metal and Fire has Lightning, Air has more in common with Water. Water which can heal, which can turn a person’s blood against them.

Water is the body, but Air is the spirit.

She brought a wooden puppet to life once.

Surely she can bring a daughter into this world, too.

“Please,” she whispers, holding the still, tiny body to her chest, “Please.”

On a moonless night, several hours after her birth, Jane breathes her first breath.

—

The last Avatar was originally an Earth bender, a masterful one at that. From a stone, he gathered and extracted all of its metal and formed a magical sword. The sword that would one day choose Arthur as king.

That Avatar had trained Arthur, had brought him to the Spirit World, bestowed upon him a wisdom that would one day unite all of Albion into a single kingdom.

Of course, that union lasted only for a very short time, the separate kingdoms splitting apart not long after King Arthur’s death. Earth endures, but the loss of his student had the Avatar retreating into isolation for the rest of his long life.

Merlin died only a few years after seeing Albion reunited under a new name.

Mal was born with the impossible conviction that she would one day return to her rightful place–beside the king of Auradon.

—

Ben remembers being small and sitting between his parents. He remembers the smell of old books and the warm sunlight shining through the library’s windows. He remembers the way they looked at each other, soft and in love.

He remembers hearing about their story–from them, from his grandfather, from the rest of the household–and thinking that one day he’d like to fall in love, too; to love someone so much as to defy society.

Except he also remembers the way everyone would gloss over just how his father survived Gaston’s attacks. He remembers how his mother would only play in the snow with him and Chip, always with a secretive smile on her lips.

He remembers, fuzzily, being sick for such a long time–no manner of medicine able to cure him–and finally recovering under his mother’s cool, glowing hands.

Bending is dangerous–the other royal families say–except for the Fairy Godmother, benders are villains in waiting.

It’s been a decade since Ben saw his mother. It’s been a decade since Ben learned his father was a coward.


	3. Part Three

Power comes in many forms–physical strength, political influence, wealth–but none are so obviously powerful as bending. Bending elements turns an individual into a force of nature, turns a person into a god.

Or a monster.

—

There has never been a dwarf bender.

Dwarves, fairies, and humans all look alike; in a strict scientific sense, they are even all part of the same species. But there is a difference between the races. Each one is a distinct subspecies, and although it’s not the technical cause for separation, Doug is pretty sure it has to do with bending.

Fairies are always benders–or they were, there aren’t many fairies anymore. At least not in Auradon–but before, before bending had become such a stigma, the fairies were seen as conduits for the world. Magical, and from that wise and powerful.

And then Maleficent happened.

With benders turned into pariahs and fairies so few in number, now is when dwarves can succeed. Wealth and ingenuity replacing mystical abilities–and dwarves can insinuate themselves into politics where fairies once held power.

Well, that’s what the elders say.

Doug just wants to play music.

* * *

* * *

 

Audrey knows all about playing the political game–she is a princess after all.

One of many, in fact, in a kingdom cobbled together like a patchwork quilt. She’s a princess but unless she can secure a marriage–the right marriage–she’ll never be queen.

So of course she knows about power.

But being royalty–having impeccable breeding, substantial wealth, perfect etiquette, even flawless good looks–means nothing when someone can pull the ground out from under you. Or burn you to ashes in seconds, turn your blood against you, steal the air from your lungs.

Not that knives will do anything either. But it makes her feel better; not safer, necessarily, but as if she has a fighting chance. Even if it is near impossible.

She doesn’t actually think it’ll do anything. A few inches of metal against a bender? There’s courage and then there’s stupidity.

You can’t be a princess of Audrey’s caliber if you’re stupid.

—

In a way, Xiao Lon–Lonnie, as she’s called here–is as much a soldier of China as her parents are. It’s nothing so obvious as wearing armor and wielding a sword. No, it’s a little more subtle than that.

Amongst her and her cousins, she is the only one that isn’t genetically related–because, unlike her cousins, she’s not one of the Emperor’s grandchildren. Well, in spirit maybe. The Emperor has always been more fond of her parents than her Uncles.

She’s also the oldest, which is why she’s even attending Auradon Prep.

Lonnie is the vanguard.

It’s idealistic, a school full of the social elite: the royalty, the nobility, the wealthy. Even those from other lands, like her, those slated to take over other kingdoms, unlike her.

It’s naive.

Trying to foster good political ties early when the rulers and movers and shakers are teenagers–how do they stop that from backfiring horribly? As if schoolyard grudges can’t just as easily turn into future wars.

On top of that, there is Auradon’s continued issues against bending. While none of Lonnie’s cousins have shown any signs of bending so far, well, Uncle Yao does call himself “King of the Rock” for a reason.

Lonnie’s not going to let any of her cousins come here with this toxic cultural stigma against benders, even if they do all end up being chi blockers like her.

She’s not scared of bending, she’s scared of what these spoiled teenagers with no limits can do. But she’s Xiao Lon, she’s a dragon; she’s a guardian.


	4. Part Four

_**(three)** _

Of all the elements, water bending is the most common. Which makes living on the Isle of the Lost a frustrating thing.

Being an island, by definition, means that it is surrounded by water–the shores all around it, a river that cuts through it, and rain that falls from above. But the people of the Isle can’t leave the magical barrier, and it is a very small radius indeed.

Their parents had the entire ocean at their control or, barring that, an entire kingdom filled with moisture-retaining plant life. In contrast, trapped on the Isle, they have nothing.

On the rocky beach, Jemma wishes for an endless blue horizon. From the shallow waves, Uri yearns for the briny depths of the sea. And in a jungle made of concrete, Querida dreams of roses as red as blood.

—

_**(two)** _

Lady Tremaine is not a bender, and neither are her two daughters. But her first husband had been one, an earth bender. He had used his skills in his mining business and it had been a satisfactory, if not profitable, marriage.

She learned the second time.

She married a rich man who could provide for her and her daughters; give her emeralds greener than her eyes. As green as her first husband’s eyes had been.

The green eyes which meant power.

No, Lady Tremaine is not a bender, but if she had been…

It would have been easy. A locked door cannot open if the key has been crushed into a useless lump of metal. A shoe made of glass–merely melted and molded sand–cannot fit one foot if it has been resized for another. Gems and gold would have come easily to her fingertips, and she wouldn’t have had to remarry at all.

But Lady Tremaine is not a bender, and neither are her two daughters.

Her eldest and youngest grandchildren, on the other hand, the only boy and the youngest girl–Anthony and Dreda–she sees the way stone trembles under his feet, how metal warps beneath her hands.

And she knows that the Tremaine family will prosper.

—

_**(one)** _

Fire bending is rare. As cliché as it might sound, this is because fire benders are either bright enough to control the flames or get burned by them instead.

And even if she’s no dragon’s daughter, Frederique Facilier is plenty bright, thank you very much.

But she knows she can’t really compete with Mal, even disregarding the whole Avatar thing (hey, secrets are the family trade). Freddi’s fire is smaller, warm instead of hot, and maybe for a voodoo witch doctor that would be fine. But her father’s friends from the other side can’t break through the barrier and reach them–meaning the Faciliers are as magic-less as any lowly minion.

So all Freddi has is her fire bending (and her devastating good looks and sharp wit and excellent fashion sense).

But if she had to tell the truth (though she would never out loud), Freddi is only a candle to Mal’s sun.


	5. Part Five

According to Auradon, the Isle of the Lost is a cesspool of villainy, bending, and other forms of degenerate behavior.

Well, they’re not exactly wrong.

“Alright, alright, you miscreants and criminals, villains and minions, benders of all elements! Grab a seat or steal it from someone else, because this tournament is about to begin!”

To Auradon, the Isle’s version of tournaments would be a prime example of their despicable ways. But to the islanders?

The bending tournaments are fun–harmless, collaborative, and light-hearted fun. They don’t even gamble on the outcomes. It’s practically heroic.

Of course, the bending tournaments are a secret from their parents. The kids gather outside of the main town, along the rocky shore of a small bay protected by tall imposing cliffs.

Before the tournament, one of the earth benders–usually Anthony Tremaine, accustomed to literally clearing the path for his many sisters and cousins–creates a tunnel for those in the know. The participants and spectators trickle in small groups then the tunnel is sealed back up.

And then the fun begins.

The first couple of events are usually straightforward bending battles, one on one, or two on two, for the foolish few who think they can take on the Jemma and Uri duo.

Querida and Evie, as the only two blood benders, will occasionally show off–who can draw in the larger sea creature. The Tremaines do their own showing off, more aesthetic than power, but still entertaining to watch, while Jay’s combination of earth bending and parkour is equally mesmerizing.

Given Mal’s unique situation, her participation in tournaments allows for interesting match ups. Being capable of bending multiple elements, she has a flexibility that the other benders don’t have. A slightly modified battle, three on one with altered rules, or inserting herself into any of the others’ shows, or even a unique twist combining all three of her mastered elements.

The tournaments are fun: a way for their generation of benders to enjoy their gifts in a pure, unburdened way. A way to spite Auradon without the pressure of their parents’ schemes pushing down on them. Nothing but youth and joy and bending.

Until Carlos goes beyond the barrier.


	6. Part Six

Carlos is pushed.

Not out of any malice, just a bending mishap, a mistimed pillar of stone jutting out at a different angle and faster speed than originally meant. It shunts him up and, thankfully, away from the nearby cliffside. But that means he is flung towards the ocean instead.

That’s not was he’s worried about–even though he can’t swim, there are a number of water benders in attendance that can easily wash him ashore–what’s worrying is what he can’t see: the invisible barrier surrounding the Isle, preventing people from leaving.

Carlos doesn’t know what the barrier will do to someone vaulted at it at high speed. He’s not even sure how it works–something to do with the Fairy Godmother’s spiritual ability to energy bend–will it just act like an invisible wall? Or is it more proactive than that–decidedly, dangerously, disastrously so?

He can see the wide-eyed dismay on everyone’s faces, his friends’ determined expressions. Jay and Evie have both shifted into bending stances–Jay trying to correct the other earth bender’s mistake by turning the shore into a grasping arm, and Evie sending a wave inland to prevent Carlos’ collision. Meanwhile, Mal is shooting towards him like a rocket, blasts of fire emitting from her hands and feet, trying to reach him first.

Their efforts won’t work.

Time seems to be slipping too fast–he’s falling closer and closer to the edge–and, impossibly, slowing. All these thoughts and observations are hurtling through his mind like he is towards the barrier.

Carlos is pushed–sent flying through the air–and, somehow, goes beyond the barrier.

—

Avatars are, by definition, capable of mastering all four elements. That does not mean that they can master or even access each element’s subspecialties. There is no rhyme or reason as to which skills an Avatar might gain–whether it’s a matter wanting to learn or some hidden incapability–it has nothing to do with an Avatar’s original element, either.

The previous Avatar, Merlin, had originally been an earth bender. He had been able to metal bend and, despite the clashing elemental alignment, had also been quite skilled at spiritual projection which is an air subspecialty. But he had never been able to master healing, had found blood bending to be distasteful, and while he could technically generate lightning, it would be inaccurate to say he controlled it, much less mastered it.

Mal, as the next Avatar in line, is still young, her powers yet untested; it is too early to say which talents she may learn and master. But Avatars have a tendency to counterbalance their predecessors–in personality, yes, but also in ability. To Mal, lightning comes as easy to her as fire, while Jay’s lessons in metal bending continues to elude her. She hasn’t tried healing, but the rats and vermin of the Isle provide ample targets for her experiments in blood bending.

With all that in mind, what might be deduced about her potential in energy bending?

—

Carlos goes beyond the barrier.

At first, nobody notices because nothing happens–Carlos keeps falling. There’s no real demarcation of where the barrier is, no corresponding physical wall or visible markers of where to stop. It’s a feeling mostly, according to the water benders who yearn for the sea: sudden onset nausea and weakness and dizziness that only increases the further from the island one tries to go. Not even Uri has gone past the point of the lightheadedness edging into unconsciousness–you can’t bend if you’re not awake, after all, and even water benders can drown.

And so, at first, because Carlos doesn’t show these effects, nobody notices he goes beyond the barrier. They think, maybe they misjudged the distance, maybe it’s farther out to sea than they remember, a difference in high and low tides.

Until Mal, flying too fast to feel her own encroaching symptoms, suddenly stops. The steady flames bursting from her hands and feet disappearing between one instant and the next, all momentum taken from her, so that she drops like a rock. She has the presence of mind to cushion her fall, water bending so that the waves carry her down instead of just slamming into it from height, but for some reason that is a struggle. Absolutely exhausting.

She can’t swim.

Thankfully, from her place on the shore, Evie notices and quickly creates a small ice floe for Mal to rest on. She lets the other water benders tow it to shore because she is still focussed on Carlos who is still in danger from his own lack of swimming ability.

Evie raises a spout of water to catch him, gently lowering him to sea level, before creating yet another ice floe which she pulls back. Carlos still shows no symptoms, even when he crosses back over the barrier.

Already, their fellow islanders are talking amongst themselves; trying to make sense of what they just witnessed and what it might mean.

“Maybe it’s because he’s not a bender,” someone suggests, but that is immediately shot down. Plenty of non-benders have tried to leave–none of them have succeeded.

“What if it’s intent? Or lack of it–he didn’t mean to go so far, after all,” someone else says, which is met with considering noises.

“How does energy bending work?” another person asks.

Another answers, “How should I know–I’m not an air bender.”

For a tiny, eternal moment, everyone falls into silence, considering:

Carlos–an air bender?


	7. (fanmix)

shards beneath our feet (an elemental Lost kids fanmix)

  1. _I See Fire_ by Paola Bennet
  2. _Jump Before We Fall_ by Michael Schulte
  3. _Come Away To The Water (ft. Nicole)_ by Dasha Akelin
  4. _Red Hands_ by Walk Off The Earth
  5. _Breath Of Life_ by Florence + The Machine
  6. _Invincible_ by OK Go
  7. _Pumpin Blood_ by NONONO
  8. _Radioactive (ft. Lindsey Stirling)_ by Pentatonix
  9. _Bottom of the River_ by Delta Rae
  10. _Earthquake_ by Hit The Lights
  11. _Skyway_ by The Apples In Stereo
  12. _Young Volcanoes_ by Fall Out Boy
  13. _Team_ by Kina Grannis, Imaginary Future  & Emi Grannis
  14. (bonus track) _Once Upon A Dream_ by Lana Del Rey



Find it [here](https://www.mediafire.com/folder/345gl6eyih960/shards_beneath_our_feet_\(an_elemental_Lost_kids_fanmix\))!  
(The link sends you to a mediafire folder, only the zip file is necessary for the entire mix)


End file.
